Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-10-07
SYNDICATE LANDL0RDISM.

| the SunerlngS OF The VICGl1lS OF 1rlSn iaHu-
lordism as portrayed by the press and the
rostrum; they have sympatnized with the
unfortunate Skye crofters in their terrible
struggle for existence and heroic fight
against being driven from the face of the
earth, all the while feeling safe that such
monstrous injustice and cruel barbsrities
could never obtain G fo0thold upon
American soil. Party platforms and po-
liticaI speakers have set forth, in words
of laundering sound, our detestation of
these expressions, while at the same time
we have been breeding system of land
Iordism in our midst which, if permitted
to grow and spread, will be tenfold more
pernicious than anything that disgraces
our transatlantic friends. European
landlordism is cruel enough and brutal
enough in al conscience, yet, in the very
nature of things, it is not as bad es the
American system. The landed estates On
the other side of the ocean are at least
held by men who are made of flesh sud
blood, and who have at times human feel
ings and human charity. When the
European landlord tramples upon the
rights of q tenant he is assail-
| ing the rights OF his own countrYmen
and his excuses are restrained by sense
of patriotism or at least local pride. Not
so in America. We have the foreign
landholder here not Ia the flesh, but in
the soulless syndicate. There is nothing
in common between it and the people;
there are no restraints thrown around it's
acts OF extortion; no protection against
its avsrice; nc human feelings to soften
the severity of its cruelty. It is here in
strange land combining the worse fes-
lures of European landlordlsm with the
worse features Of cold, pulseless Ameri-
Csn monopoly. Individual ownership of
vast tracts of farming lands, such as the
estate of Nj. Scully. the Irish gentle
man(O is bad enough. Absorbing, as
he does, the increase annually, and re-
moving it from the country, has left the
his possessions which stands out in sorry
contrast with the lands of citizen owners,
but ne has confined himself so far to legal
extortion and the enjoyment of that
vicious system which first enabled him to
obtain control of these vast tracts. The
syndicate has gone farther. It has pur-
chased from the railroads thousands of
acres obtained from the government
through the prodigality and corruption of
Republican legislation, and proceeded ct
once to GUST those pioneer settlers who
had, in good faith, located upon the lands |
and erected modest homes for their
families. The methods adopted to |
eject the people Of America from
their American homes upon Ameri- |
can lands, ere truly British and are |
described by correspondent thus: ga
British syndicate which is said TO have |
purchased large tract of land in Iowa
from the McGregor and Western Rail
road is mercilessly evicting the settlers,
the title to the land being in dispute in
the state courts. A settler writes that
women over sixty years OF age, sick in
bed, have been taken by six men and car
ried out in driving storm. Delicate wo-
men have had their hands tied with cords
until the flesh was bruised and then
dragged, shrieking, from their homes.
Children have been born premstureIy at
the sight of the band of evictors. Strong
men have been run down by rufiaDs on
horseback and then hand. cuffed and
driven from their little possessions. I
might go and multiply instances where
the sheriff with writ Of ejectment in
one hand and the British contract in the
other, gave these poor people their choice
between these two evils which
they would take" The poor settler has
perhaps expended his all in the building
Of home and the maintenance ct his
family. He is not able to fight legal bat
ties with these mOnied powers, and they,
taking advantage OF his weakness, resorti
to atrocities which would scandalize
Comanche Indian, to secure possession OF
MS premises. The humble squatter has
lis case in court where the title to his
and is in dispute, but the syndicate cares
title for that. It means to have posses
zion first, and the decision Of the law
courts afterwards. It is surely high time
hat the government should step in and I
,rotect our citizens. This may be an ex- :
eptional instance, but Others will fol- I
ow. How many "syndicstes" were
oiled when Secretary Lsmar, by stroke G
f his pen, restored 80, 900 acres of the
ublic domain 70 the people cannot now
e told, or how many settlers were saved 8
rom the sufferings inflicted upon the
loneers Of Iowa cannot easily be esti- C
lated. 1t is these land monopolies that y
reed Henry Georges. The tax upon